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(¸.•´ (¸.•` ♥ Hello! Welcome and thank you for visiting my Blog! A blog about Celebrating LIFE and all it's wonders... A blog about ART ~ POLYMER CLAY CREATIONS ~ PHOTOGRAPHY and so much more! I have such fun with my blog, sharing stories, and the things that capture my imagination! I am so inspired by the artists and creations that I also share here, it is my hope that you will be inspired too!!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

A Pinterest Lesson Learned...

I have learned a lesson and would like to share it with you.  I am a huge fan of a broad range of art.  I am inspired by artwork of many forms and the artists who create this amazing artwork.  I have featured many artisans and their work on my blog, always very careful to create the links that will take my blog readers to the artist’s website, to view more of their work and read more about them.  As an artist myself, copyrights are very important to me.  

When I joined Pinterest and read about how it works, one of the things I really liked about the site was that no matter how many times an item is re-pinned, it always keeps the original site link.  You can click on that link to go to the site, or you can double click the picture from a Pinterest board, and it will take you to the site that it was first pinned from… Or so I thought.  I do not check each picture that I re-pin, but I will be from now on.  

I re-pinned an amazing photograph and I didn’t realize that there was NOT an original source attached to the picture.  I’m not sure how this particular picture was first pinned to a Pinterest board, nor do I know how other pictures are pinned without an original source attached.  When I find something on the web that I would like to pin to one of my boards, I use my “Pin It” button, and the source has always automatically followed the pin.  (In the 'Description' I also type in the artist’s name and/or the name of their store.)  These pins show as “Pinned via Pinmarklet from…” and then it names the website.  I thought that using your "Pin It" button, or a "Pin It" Button provided in a blog post or on a website, was the only way something could be pinned to a Pinterest Board...   But I guess pictures can somehow be uploaded without using the "Pin It" Button... ?

As an example of what a pinned picture looks like when it's embedded into a blog post, below is my Teddy Bear Wedding Cake Topper, which I pinned from my Etsy Shop to my Polymer Clay Artwork Pinterest Board using my "Pin It" Button.  Below the picture, it shows that the source is Etsy, via myself on Pinterest.


Source: etsy.com via Trina on Pinterest


**When you click on the Source, which is etsy.com (directly above to the left in grey print), it will take you to the original site the Teddy Bear Topper was pinned from ~ which, in this case, is my Etsy Shop and the listing for these Bears.  When you click on Trina (above) it will take you to my Pinterest Boards and when you click on Pinterest (above), it will take you to the Pinterest website.  (The grey print and the links come with the pictures when you embed them from Pinterest into a blog post, etc...)

Unfortunately, on Pinterest, when browsing the pins (and re-pins) of the pinners you follow from the main "Pinners You Follow" board, you CAN’T see the sources or sites that the pictures originally came from unless you click on a picture and look at it individually.  So, unless you click on every picture before re-pinning it, you won’t know what website (or lack thereof) it was first pinned from.  If it says “Uploaded to Pinterest" or "Uploaded Pins” there may NOT be a website or original source attached, and once re-pinned, it will show on your board as “Uploaded by User” ~ (If you are re-pinning from inside one of a fellow pinner's boards rather than from the main "Pinners You Follow" board, you can see the websites on the pictures without having to click on each one individually.) 

I did not realize that the photographer's photograph that I re-pinned said “Uploaded by User” and that when double clicked from Pinterest it did NOT go to a website.  Being new to Pinterest, and excited to share some of the awesome art I was seeing when I first joined, I blogged about it…  I shared some pictures directly from my boards on Pinterest using the “Embed” key next to the pinned pictures.  I thought the information that came with the pictures that I posted to my blog article would take my readers to the original sources, but in this case, for this particular picture it did not, because there was NO source.  

I am writing this post to make my fellow pinners aware of this.  None of us want to pin something to our boards without properly recognizing and giving credit to the artists whose creations we are pinning.  Since I was not aware of this, I am thinking there may be other pinners who are also not aware of this.  Sincere apologies go to the photographer whose awesome photograph was somehow uploaded to Pinterest without proper credit being given.  In addition, and on a personal note, I am very sorry that I did not notice that the artist’s website was not attached to the photograph when I re-pinnned it.   

To all my fellow pinners, please make sure proper credit is given to the artists of the work that we are all pinning and re-pinning and that sources are attached to pins and re-pins.  In Pinterest's Pin Etiquette it says: "If you notice that a pin is not sourced correctly, leave a comment so the original pinner can update the source."  I will definitely be doing that, as well as browsing through my own boards to make sure my pins have original sources on them.  (Which, if any of you know my boards... That will take me a very long time! LOL!!)  
 
I enjoy Pinterest.  I have learned new things there, made new friends there, I've been moved by photographs and/or things I've read there, I find inspiration there, as well as things that make me smile.  Pinterest should be a place where we can all continue to find those things that inspire us, teach us, move us and make us smile.  Thank you for reading my post today. ~Trina

19 comments:

  1. Well explained Trina! I spent 3 hours going trough my still fairly limited pinboards and deleted all the pins that had not proper resources. From the 740 odd pins, only 350 something remained!!!
    As someone else pointed out, unless you are in the business of making items and know about copyright, a lot of people just roam the net and are now aware of the infringment.. so your article will surely get the message out in clear lingo!

    Thanks Trina :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hmm, it's strange that you mention this, because when I pin from the "Pinners You Follow" page all of my images are sourced correctly. I just double-checked my main Pins page and everything I added yesterday is okay.

    Maybe it depends more on people adding things correctly in the first place? Either way, you're right that things need to be cited! People deserve credit!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Page, thank you for your comment. It's good that all of your pins were sourced correctly.

    Yes, it does absolutely depend on people adding things correctly in the first place. If it's not added correctly the first time, it will not have the proper sourcing when re-pinned.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Chris and thank you for your comment. Wow... I couldn't believe it when I read how many pins you deleted for not being sourced correctly. I will be working on my pins also, and I know it will take a very long time to delete the pins that aren't sourced correctly, I have many pins.

    It's true what someone else said: "unless you are in the business of making items and know about copyright, a lot of people just roam the net and are now aware of the infringement"

    That's why I felt it was important to share this information with others and I do hope it helps.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks so much for your post. This helps me understand why I saw an uncredited photo of of one of my pieces pinned on someone's Pinterest board, someone I didn't know. Thanks for helping to make people aware of the potential glitch.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for the well written explanation an important topic...It's certainly my goal, when I pin, to connect followers with the original artist.

    I am off to check my pins!

    ReplyDelete
  7. When I first joined Pinterest last year I sometimes wondered where the original source was.
    You explained everything perfectly. I really love Pinterest and will now make sure that whenever I pin something it will lead to the original source!
    Thanks, Trina!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I will be checking my pins now. It didn't occur to me there wouldn't be a source but I will check from now on. Thank you for this info!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Interesting, I have yet to pin anything and just recently got my invite and set up my account. There seems to be a lot of copyright issues or knowledge that needs to be expressed, this is a great post.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I get frustrated by this while I'm browsing Pinterest. i see a FABULOUS pair of shoes that I just HAVE to have, so I click the image to try to go to it's original source link.

    oops. The original pinner has imply saved the image to his/her computer and uploaded it, so the original link is no where to be found. And I won't get to waste any money on new shoes. Boo.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I do check each pin I'm interested in. It's worth the time if I want to purchase or make it. I make sure I add the artist if at all possible. I know most people don't like watermarked photos or "signed" photos, but I see why they do it. Even if the photo is not properly linked back to the site, a person can google the artist's name on the photo. This has worked best for me. Good post today!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Awesome post! Paige is right that it does depend on whether or not people pinned the links/photos correctly in the first place.

    I always double check my pins and make corrections when I can. I will not re-pin or use any pins elsewhere (i.e. blog posts) that are not cited correctly.

    It's really important that as many Pinterest users as possible are made aware of this.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Interesting. I didn't know this. Thanks for the information.

    Stopping by from Etsy Blog Team

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thank you all for your comments today!

    I am working on looking at each of my pins, checking to make sure they are properly credited. Some of the ones that say "Uploaded by User" thankfully do have the artist's name typed in the description ~ So (like 'It's All About Creating' said above) I google their names to get their site links and then attach those links to their pictures.

    The pins that don't have an artist's name on them, and aren't properly sourced, I have deleted and will continue to delete.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks for the tips! I think the problem may be in how the first image was uploaded to Pinterest. I'll have to check my boards.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi Trina,

    I am following you via the Hive. Thank you for your well written and informative post. I started using Pinterest very early on...the marketer in me immediately started to question the "purpose" of this new phenomena, as just pinning pictures, other then looking pretty, just seemed pointless. So I started making it a point to make sure the item is linked and I now copy the link and include it in the description. Of course this pays honor to copyright issues also. I have a feeling that there are going to be two groups of people, the ones that use Pinterest as a social networking, promotional site and those that are just having fun. However, eventually those just having fun will have to be made aware of copyright protocol. Just my two cents. Aloha, Connie

    ReplyDelete
  17. Well said and great tips. I know what you mean. I'm always so disappointed when I click on an image so I can visit the source and I see "uploaded by user." I really wanted to check out the site the pin came from. This is even a more serious issue than that.

    Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I have been hearing a lot of buzz about this lately! I'm sorry you got caught in the middle of it!
    But thank you for taking the time to explain the process as well as the importance of proper pinning!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Rather than delete unattributed pins, here's a better solution:

    1. Copy the URL of the image. (Righ-click. Copy image location.)
    2. Go to TinEye (Reverse Image Search) http://www.tineye.com/
    3. Paste the URL into the image address search box.
    4. Click [Search]

    Often, TinEye will find the original image location and you can Pin that.

    ReplyDelete

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